My Latest Articles,

Companies are investing thousands of dollars in Employee Engagement programs. Turnover numbers with Millennials remain consistent with over half desiring to leave after two to three years. Sadly, the talent leaves and the mediocre talent remain for their anticipated 3% increase each year. And I am betting they are in the “Dis-Engaged” segment.

The traditional grid models for Succession Planning have often proven to be ineffective and organizations are struggling to find resources and vehicles to provide growth opportunities for young talent. The world of Human Capital Development has become a moving target to say the least.

Maybe it is time for a Bad Idea…

After researching and writing about engagement and retention for 17 years one thing remains consistent, young employees want to be heard. In my Boomer generation we followed blindly and learned what we perceived to be “our roles.” Employees, especially young employees today want a voice, and they want it immediately. For all of us as Managers and Leaders it is more critical than ever before. If not, the good employees leave, and those that remain become disengaged at best.

Earlier this year I read a 2017 report from Deloitte suggesting “Culture is no longer a statement on the website or a poster on the wall.” But Culture is rather (my words) a thread that is woven through the entire fabric of successful organizations. So how do our cultures stand up to voices being heard?

In my career I was blessed to have spent nine years with Yamaha Motor Corporation. It was an incredible foundation to learn about “5S,” and Kaizens and actually see them in action. I think the most significant element, and somewhat surprising to me at the time, coming out of a traditional corporate environment, was the total inclusion in the recognition programs.

For example, all ideas, or “voices wanting to be heard,” were recognized equally. Although not all ideas were implemented equally, the recognition for any new idea was recognized. And yes, even bad ideas (sorry to be so blunt,) were recognized as well, or rather the employee offering the suggestion was recognized for the fact that they stepped forward with a new idea to improve the operation.

Sounds pretty idealistic eh? Now fast forward to the real world we all live in. We all have employees that think they know more than we do. We all have employees to spend a lot of time whining… there I said it. But what if we were to reverse the perspective? In these examples, how might it be seen from the eyes of an employee?

Most times when an employee, especially a new employee offers an opinion or a suggestion it comes with a fair amount of anxiety. It actually takes a little bravery to speak up. Imagine if after the employee speaks up, the response is a very curt, “We tried that before and it did not work.” Imagine if the response was, “We just do not have the budget for that.”

A very curt, “We tried that before and it did not work.”What are the chances that the employee would ever offer another idea? I know in consulting work I have initiated dialog to be shut down with the same response, or the “evil stare” telling me so much more about the client’s culture. That statement alone taught me lot about challenges with this particular client.

So my recommendation?

Good Managers and Leaders are more than willing to positively reinforce even a bad idea, for the sake of positively reinforcing and encouraging more ideas to come. Thus we are developing a culture of open ideas. For example, we have an employee who has offered five ideas and all of them are not very good ideas. In my mind (I am not proud of this,) I had them labeled as whiner. And often time I shut off my listening never giving them a chance. What are the chances that idea number six is going to be a good suggestion? Most likely not… But can we be sure? Can we be 100% certain?

What if … in a group session a bad idea initiates a dialog resulting in a pretty cool idea? At perhaps once recognized reduces the anxieties for a fellow employee not brave enough to speak up, to ultimately speak up and initiate a great idea?

Shutting down one idea may discourage all ideas. And we as Managers may not even recognize this at the time. And I would go on to say we have just taken a huge step backwards on employee engagement within our teams without even knowing what has happened.

Potential Managers Responses,

To a bad idea,

“I love your new ideas, but it might be a challenge, could you give some thought to overcoming the specific challenges,” and then schedule a time to review.

To an idea that failed before,

“Love the fact that you are trying to help, but when we tried that before we never got over this particular hurdle or challenge,”

Then schedule a specific time to review, “might you give the hurdle some thought and perhaps next Tuesday we can review?

It is critical to recognize the fact that “voices are welcome here.” I can rememberKen Blanchard quote, “None of us is as strong as all of us.” The techniques are pretty simple if we coach/train our Managers to use them.

Employees recognize that your time is critical, so by making sure to schedule a time to follow up on the issues we are demonstrating that we take their willingness to offer ideas and address the challenges are extremely important. If the identified challenges could not be resolved by the employee we have firmly identified our culture to encourage new ideas, or new twists on previous ideas.

So we may not want to positively reinforce a bad idea, but we definitely do want to positively reinforce a culture that allows and encourages ideas, all the time, from all of our employees.

Engagement – When is it Too Soon?New Thoughts for LeadersMichael Muetzel, President, Mx Marketing, Management SolutionsWhen is it too soon to build a culture of employee engagement? I might argue that it begins in the interview process, but at the very least we can integrate an engagement culture from day one without spending a lot of money. It may be time to change the traditional mindset on employee orientation. How many managers consider an employee’s first day as an opportunity to build engagement, increase productivity and reduce turnover? Millennials are changing jobs every 24 months, Engagement Surveys typically reflect 60-70% employee disengagement and the costs are staggering. Can you think of a better time to begin working on a better culture for your teams?I am suggesting that progressive organizations see an employee’s first day as a dramatic opportunity to clearly demonstrate why our company is successful with a culture of engagement. Clearly, productivity, ROI, reduced turnover, internal growth, creativity and increase customer service are all benchmarks of organizations with above average engagement. So when is it too soon?Most often, the first day begins with paperwork in the HR Department… Really? Could we hold off on paperwork for an hour or two to send the message we want to send? The we proceed to a classroom “Orientation Program” that is often a history lesson, more paperwork, a review of our Employee Manual (incidentally a ‘riveting read’ that no one has read…,) and words from the HR Department.Change the Participants LeadersTraditional orientation programs are often developed and conducted by the HR department, and are often interpreted by Millennials as as traditional corporate rhetoric. We have all been there, the Boss walks in, says, “My door is always open… our employees are outr best asset…” then - the Boss leaves the room. Think of that symbolism… It has happened to all of us,Where is it written that one’s future peers, specifically, non-management employees are not qualified to conduct orientation programs? Millennial employees are more likely to relate, and listen to Millennial counterparts, or at the very least real-life co-workers. And the participation should not be limited to a single person, or even a single department.Before paperwork… Before the Employee Manual… orientation begins with “New Hires” listening to hourly or mid level co-workers sharing how what they have done in their departments or teams in the last three months, (this is important, it demonstrates urgency and timeliness) to fulfill the Mission of the organization. Maybe it is unparalleled service, maybe it is innovation, it is always about better solutions. Please note, there are no senior level managers preaching to New hires in this technique.For example, a delivery driver or warehouse attendant sharing what they have done to insure orders are processed accurately, quickly and directly, or a marketing coordinator explaining how they are introducing new communication vehicles or social media to share how our organizations is a true consultative partner to our clients? Or even administrative folks sharing how they are often the “First Line” in communication on any issue, and how important it is to them to be great.With companies I have worked with, I have been in a number of these meetings. It is amazing and inspiring. The hourly worker is reading nervously from a handwritten page of notes… and before long the pride begins to speak louder than the words… And people in the audience are listening. Now, perhaps you are skeptical about how successful your employees are about directly delivering such an unusual message. Trust in them, and they will trust in you.A powerful “Engagement” orientation not only introduces the culture of engagement to the New Hires… but enhances engagement with the true foot soldiers that make us successful.There will be significant benefits to including other employees in this event. By having different people from different departments conduct brief messages or even power point presentations on their individual departments, we have now initiated a new inexpensive team-building activity. In addition, the employees now have “equity” in the orientation process, and this “equity” has been a proven technique for reducing turnover, especially with Millennial employees. All new hires have a learning curve. By learning from other employees in the organization about their challenges, milestones and accomplishments, new hires will shorten the learning curve about what the total organization is all about. In addition, rather than losing a new hire in an individual department when they get restless, they will may more learn more about other areas that may meet their interests or needs within your organization, rather than outside the company.The final tip for better orientation days is the critical nature of follow up activities. Mentoring programs, 60 or 90 day follow up interviews or general performance expectation discussions are easy inexpensive ways to maximize the potential of your new employees. Love to get your thoughts, mxmm@bellsouth.net2 Hidden Myths About Employee Engagement!Mike Muetzel, Author and President Mx Marketing, Management Solutions

OK, in this world of Millennials keeping an eye on the next job even on the first day they begin working for us … If we are not measuring Employee Engagement, perhaps we should be. And at least for me there might be al lot more to getting a real understanding of what this really means.

The Gallup Data has not changed in years, 7 out of 10 employees see themselves as not fully engaged in our organizations. But most leaders and managers are not aware of true employee perspectives, or in fact the true reality of employee engagement.

There is no question that clearly, companies that have above the norm levels of employee engagement are always more profitable, have higher service metrics and less turnover than those with normal or even below normal engagement scores. Engagement is perhaps a true barometer of an organization’s internal health… or at the very least of their true potential.

The key differences in these “Myths” are due to perspective. Leaders and Managers have a given perspective on how an employee feels about being engaged, but often the employee perspective is often much different. We may not “know” our employees as well as we think we know them. This is especially true in terms of their potential to demonstrate what truly engaged employees do… commit and give 100% or close to it.

Engagement might be better defined for Mangers and Leaders as a barometer of an employee’s “full” or close to “full” dedication to our organizations, from the individual employee perspective. Clearly recognition, defined career potential, friends at work, an understanding of your true “Holy Grail” (Thanks Ken Blanchard!), learning and advancement are key components - but in the eyes of management” Or in the eyes of our employees?

However data and detailed employee interviews reflect that the converse is not always true. I know at least for me, it is not always easy to understand the differences here. An employee can be happy at work, receiving reasonable compensation, benefits, and even learning additional skills but not be fully engaged. Or perhaps they love their co-workers, but still not fully engaged.

Even employees in a “McJob” (a term popularized by Douglas Copeland in his Novel Generation X…, and included in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary believe it or not,) can be happy but not necessarily engaged.

But the converse, Good Employees are Engaged Employees may not be true. “Good Employees” is a phrase for and from managers… In my corporate work, surveys and interviews, I am often amazed at how this key “Good does not equal Engaged -- Perception Gap” exists even in great organizations. This is also especially true regarding “trust” in organizations.

Again the “proof “ is in the eyes of the beholder. In my workshops we always ask managers to define a “Good Employee.” Often responses include:

Come to work on time

Reliable transportation

Do high quality work

Work is done on time and done correctly

Work well with co-workers

Care about co-workers and customers

Good attitude at work

Never a problem

It seems to make sense right? I have interviewed many Good Employees, off the record, and I often hear that in their eyes they are capable of so much more. From their perspective, they can operate on five out of eight cylinders and still do a “Good Job.” But also from their perspective they have even more potential and more they could be giving…

It is far easier for us as Leaders to identify those employees that are Actively Dis-Engaged. Why we keep them nobody knows…

Where we as managers often miss the boat is thinking any employee that is not “Actively Dis-Engaged” is then in the manager’s eyes …Engaged. However, by definition, in the eyes of the employee they see themselves as simply “Dis-Engaged”.

Now the challenge becomes how to bring it out in more than three or four out of ten of our employees. There is far more potential to increase creativity, productivity, and service, we just need to tap into the potential.

In the words of Forbes Magazine, (Article by Kevin Kruse) Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company.

Please understand, Happy Employees and Good Employees will make our companies really good at servicing our customers. But if we can improve true engagement, even by 10% fully engaged, productivity and profit will follow quickly.

The good news might lie in the fact that the jump from Happy and Good to more engaged may not be as difficult or as expensive as we might think. And often times the true answers are not found in Consultants but from our own employees.

As leaders in our organizations it is essential for us to first understand the 2016 national data from Deloitte reflects that 66% of Millennial employees expect to leave their current employers in two to five years, and the hidden costs of this trend are far more than you might expect. Thus the significance of engagement, development programs and the need to understand what it takes to keep them active and interested is more important than ever before.

The backside of this data presents an opportunity for us. It is also true that in today’s world, the talent leaves, and the non-productive employees stay. Why wouldn’t they? So how can we shorten the curve in attracting top Millennial talent?

It is a video world

If employees and good young managers are as important to your success as you believe, then attracting talent needs to be an important part of your company or organization’s website, far beyond listing job opportunities on a career page.

The fact is that any prospects interested in you will have checked five or more on line sources about your organization, reviews and reputation long before you ever see their first resume. I might even recommend that this video finds a place on your Home Page, although this may be a little much for most of you. At the very least it needs to be easily accessible…

The most effective, inexpensive tool is an effective video, but with key elements to insure you hit all the right buttons…

You can simply film and edit your video in house, but make sure you publish or list it on YouTube and link it to your site and it should be under 3:30 minutes. There are many reasons for all of this, not the least of which is SEO exposure and attention span. Here are three “must haves” for your video.

The video should be a series of positive comments - almost testimonials from current employees and mid-level managers NOT your CEO, metaphorically, of course. It should however include your Holy Grail or brief (remember the 140 word ‘Twitter’ mentality,) statement of what you are really about, this is not the place for your albeit noble Mission statement as they rarely reflect on employees for some reason. And please be consistent.

Comments from mid-level managers regarding opportunities to grow individually, both vertically and horizontally in your organization and perhaps even a career path to address future expectations.

Comments from line workers or truck drivers on the family culture of your organization. Comments regarding recognition, families, and friends in the company can also be very effective.

Comments on the local community, parks for families, social activities, restaurants, music venues, community and local life-style advantages.

And of course it needs to be extremely current. If a participant on the video leaves your organization is promoted, it needs to updated immediately. You never know who might be connected to whom…

Finally, this is a great project idea for a select group of your employees. They can take additional pride in the project, film it on their iPads or mobile phones and edit the video far better than you or I might be able to do.